Dems eager to celebrate McCain's 72nd birthday

DENVER — John McCain turns 72 today — old enough to be his opponent's dad. Older than Reagan when he took office. Old enough that Democrats like to throw in loaded phrases like "maybe he's losing it" when he misspeaks.

The Democratic Party will mark the day with birthday cakes at a dozen cities in closely contested states, each aglow with 72 candles. A not-so-subtle jab at McCain's age? Absolutely not, party officials insist — just a lighthearted way to talk about McCain offering another year of the same GOP policies.

A recent Quinnipiac poll found that one in every three voters confessed to being somewhat or entirely uncomfortable with the idea of a president taking office at age 72.

The Obama campaign's official line is that it doesn't use age as a bludgeon.

"The issue isn't the number of years that Sen. McCain has spent on this Earth, it's the age of his ideas," top strategist David Axelrod said Thursday. "He has basically a backward-looking philosophy. He's embraced discredited doctrines that have led us to the brink of some very, very serious problems. ... But certainly we wish him a happy birthday."

The Democratic National Committee decided to make some mischief with the birthday-cake stunt. One of the dozen or so cakes will be lit near McCain's rally today in Dayton, Ohio, with his new running mate — a running mate the Democrats dub McCain's "birthday present to himself," as spokesman Damien LaVera put it. "We're really excited about it."